Walter J. Klein, 32°, K.C.C.H.
5009 Gamton Court, Charlotte, North Carolina 28226
wklein@carolina.rr.com
Hezekiah Alexander, a prominent 18th-century
patriotic leader and Mason in North Carolina, used his historic
home as a Masonic Lodge.
It
was Sunday, July 19, 1801. After solemn services in the crowded
sanctuary of Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North
Carolina, the body of a noble leader was borne to the church
cemetery on the shoulders of men who loved him. Hezekiah Alexander
died in the 74th year of his remarkable life. Graveside services
were conducted in the traditions of Freemasonry befitting an
honored Brother. Each member of the burial team wore his Masonic
apron. So did Hez, as people called him. They were burying a
Scotch-Irish blacksmith in the Mecklenburg backcountry earth
he chose as his homeland. And what a blacksmith he was! He helped
forge North Carolina's constitution and bill of rights, and
he helped change Charlotte from a trifling crossroads into a
place where history was made and a great city grew.
The gravestone erected over Hezekiah's body was simple, especially
for a man of such accomplishment. But Hezekiah knew he had a
monument already in place for which he would be known for ages
to come-his nearby stone house, which served both as his home
and a Lodge Hall (photo below). The Lodge that met in Hezekiah's
home was almost certainly Phalanx Lodge Number 7, duly constituted
by the South Carolina Grand Lodge based in Charleston. A 1790
South Carolina Masonic directory lists Masonic Lodge No. 7 as
"at Charlotte Town." It is known that No. 7 had been
active in Charlotte for years before that. It can claim as members
several signers, including Hez, of the Mecklenburg Resolutions
adopted by a Mecklenburg County Convention on May 20, 1775.
The declaration "wholly suspended" all laws and commissions
deriving their authority from England and was, in effect, a
declaration of state independence more than a year before the
national Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July
4, 1776.
Bro. Hezekiah Alexander made it his business to hold together
the Freemasons who had migrated from Maryland, Delaware, and
Pennsylvania to Mecklenburg County. During these years of Masonic
association, he was also a leader in the radical movement to
separate America from British rule. In fact, throughout his
adult life, Hez was a dedicated and enthusiastic Freemason whose
Masonic affiliation figured into his personal, professional,
political, social, and religious life. He chose Masons as his
associates in many endeavors, and they chose him. The quality
and character they looked for when selecting public servants
could be quickly found among their Brother Master Masons. In
them, the qualities of integrity, morality, leadership, and
skill in speaking and writing had already been established through
Masonic initiation and service.
The five delegates to the Halifax Convention to write the new
North Carolina constitution were all political radicals, all
signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration, and all Masons: Hez,
as the senior member, Waightstill Avery, Robert Irwin, John
Phifer, and Zaccheus Wilson.
Arriving at Halifax on April 12, 1776, they were greeted by
so many Brother Masons that it looked like a vast Lodge meeting.
The Halifax Resolves they executed were sent to Joseph Hewes,
John Penn, and William Hooper, who were the three North Carolina
members of Congress in Philadelphia. All were Masons.
The
chain of Masons continued all the way to the top of the infant
United States of America. Among many others, George Washington,
James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, John Paul Jones, Paul Revere,
the Marquis de Lafayette, John Hancock, Dr. Joseph Warren, and
General Joseph Warren were Masons. Even two later American Presidents
who came from Mecklenburg County, Andrew Jackson and James Knox
Polk, were Masons.
Being a Freemason during the Revolutionary Period involved
more danger than pride. By the time Hez and his 26 brave compatriots
executed the Mecklenburg Declaration, it was singularly unpopular
to be a Mason, a Presbyterian, or a Mecklenburger. To be all
three, as many of the Mecklenburg Declaration signers were,
put their necks close to the British noose. This danger made
Mecklenburg Masons cautious. Hez incised Masonic symbols into
the stones of his 1774 house, but they were purposely cryptic
to the non-initiated while crystal clear to knowing Masons of
that time.
In
like manner, ardent Masons who died in late 18th century Charlotte
Town were buried with their Masonic identities cleverly hidden
in the capital letter A on their headstones. Instead of conventional
capital A, a V was substituted for the letter A's crossbar,
forming a neat Masonic Square and Compasses. One such monument
identifies the remains of Abraham Alexander, Hez's beloved cousin,
who is buried next to Hez.
There can be no question that the Masonic leadership tradition
in Charlotte, North Carolina, remains strong from Hezekiah Alexander
into the 21st century. John Montgomery Belk, head of the largest
privately owned department store chain in America, is the popular
former mayor of the city. In 1999, 232 years after Hez arrived,
Belk's foundation picked up the tab for The American Freedom
Bell at the Charlotte Museum of History. Bro. Belk is a 50-plus-year
member of Excelsior Lodge No. 261, and he is a direct descendant
of Hezekiah Alexander's father. A grand tradition lives on!
The above article is reprinted, edited for
length, from The North Carolina Mason (March/April 2000).
 |
Walter J. Klein
is a member of Excelsior Lodge No. 261 in Charlotte, N.C.,
and of the Scottish Rite Bodies of Charlotte. While working
to create a museum at the Charlotte Scottish Rite Temple,
he developed the idea that the Hezekiah Alexander House
was built as a Masonic meeting hall, and he believes it
to be the oldest Masonic structure in America. A member
of the Scottish Rite Research Society, he received in 2000
the highest Masonic award in North Carolina, the Joseph
Montford Medal, for his services to Freemasonry and America. |
